Lee Ashcroft, the Kilmarnock manager, has this week been focusing fully on his return to the starting XI and a league visit of Dundee.
It makes a change from spending his days mulling over a potential move away from Rugby Park, with the youngster having grown frustrated at his lack of opportunities this season.
His thoughts had drifted to a loan move in January but became centred on a spot in the middle of the Ayrshire side's defence again when Manuel Pascali was sent off against Celtic.
Ashcroft will replace the Italian this afternoon and is determined to make the most of his chance, having made only one league start this term. That came against Dundee on the opening day of the campaign.
"I was actually thinking about waiting until Christmas and then if I was still struggling to get in the team, speak to the manager about going out on loan," said Ashcroft, who made 25 first-team appearances last season. "But right now I'm our only real back-up centre-half, so I know it would be hard for the manager to let me go.
"It's frustrating because while I'm ticking over playing reserve games, I'd prefer to go out and get involved in some matches that really mean something. At my age I need to be playing first-team football to keep improving but I've got my chance this weekend and it is down to myself to take it. We will see how the weekend goes and if [manager Allan Johnston] brings Pasca back in afterwards."
James McPake has already made his return to the heart of the Dundee defence, following the heartbreak of his father's death. The 30-year-old sat out his side's league win away to Motherwell last month as he mourned his loss.
The former Hibernian captain admitted that it has been a tough period of his life but is certain that his father would have been proud to see him back playing and helping his club stay in the top flight.
"These things are never easy for anyone but we have a strong family behind us," said McPake. "Obviously, I missed that weekend's game but I had to get back into it which is what my dad would have wanted and what everyone else wants. It has been hard for everyone but we have all been there for one another.
"My mum has plenty of support behind her and she is probably the strongest out of us all. To be fair, football is not like any other job and you don't have time to think here. You are just thinking about where your next pass is going or your next header. So training has been good. Getting back in amongst the boys has helped me."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article